Stories and Strategies from Real Life: 12/30/16

Some of the best learning happens when you read stories about real people and real companies. Read them for ideas, for lessons, and inspiration. This week’s stories and strategies from real life are about Nokia, Google, TIKD, Ubisoft, and Spotify.

“Not yet. In the past five years, Alphabet, formed as a holding company for Google and other disparate projects in October 2015, has spent $46bn on research and development (see chart). Much has gone to so-called ‘moonshot’ projects, such as self-driving cars, smart contact lenses and internet delivered via balloons. Its British artificial-intelligence unit, DeepMind, also falls into the category of other projects. Since the start of 2015, these bets have together recorded a loss of $6bn.”

“As with many start-up stories, this one spawned from the founder’s own experience — in this case, getting nailed in a Coral Gables speed trap. Christopher Riley wanted to fight it but didn’t want to go through the hassle of hiring a lawyer or spending multiple hours in traffic court. Yes, he thought there had to be the proverbial better way — through technology.”